James Manos
Overview James Manos is a physicist and the primary antagonist of The Amulet series. He has a number of supernatural abilities, all of these are a result of his time traveling. 2060-2070 James Manos was a gifted physicist, who, along with Anita Ubanis and Wade, invented time travel around the year 2070. James graduated from Sirius University with a PhD in 2064, and spent several years teaching graduate-level physics and mathematics, and researching temporal mechanics. In January 2068, James, along with Wade and Anita, was awarded the Julian Hamilton Memorial Award for his scientific research. Shortly thereafter, James and his friends were informed that a group of people had "appeared" in a nearby forest, who claimed to have come from the past. The ten people were unknown to James, except for a future version of Anita. The time travelers attempted to warn James and his friends to cease their research, but James' efforts doubled when he realized that they would absolutely invent time travel - the presence of two Anita's proved this. Two years later, the group finished work on their machine and traveled back to ancient Egypt, over 4000 years in the past. Ancient Egypt, 2000 B.C. Unfortunately, James suffered an unpredictable effect in which his matter was reconstructed improperly, resulting in him existing in a quasi-"ghost-like" quantum state, in which he would quickly break down and cease to exist within a short period of time. The trio's miniature time devices, used to travel home, were broken, which resulted in Wade inventing replacements, or "amulets" - small time machines disguised to look like Egyptian jewelry. James discovered that he had the ability to "possess" certain people, in order to extend his life. Additionally, he found that wearing an "amulet" made the wearer effectively immortal. James stole an amulet from Anita and Wade and used it to time travel to 1776, where he possessed a cult member named Tom Carroll. Virginia, 1776-2007 James spent the next 200+ years living in Tom's body, controlling him. In this form, he half-jokingly referred to himself as "The Master". Tom did not age at all in this time. Little is known about this time period, except that James/Tom resided in an abandoned barn in Virginia, where he painstakingly attempted to reconstruct a full-size replica of the time machine to return home. At some point James realized he had the ability to control other people (and prevent them from aging) in addition to the one he was possessing. In July 1867, James found an injured civil war soldier, Ben Killian, and was able to successfully treat him. He then kept the man as his personal slave until 1999. In 1999, a vacationing couple, Michael and Margaret Warren stopped at the barn looking for directions. Ben offered to trade Michael and Margaret for himself, and James agreed. Ben was set free, and Michael and Margaret became James' new slaves. Around December 2004-January 2005, James/Tom somehow lost the amulet which was keeping him immortal. The amulet was found by a farmer named Chester, and sold to a curio shop. Tom began to age normally. July 2007 In July 2007, Wade and Anita found James and murdered Tom, forcing James out of his body. Without a body or an amulet to possess, James began frantically searching. He came upon a little girl, Daisy, on vacation with her parents, wearing his amulet. James was attacked by an axe-wielding man, Patrick. He killed Patrick, but Daisy escaped through time before James could catch her. Frustrated, James took the girls mother, Blanche, as an additional slave and returned to the barn. A week later, the local police captain, Vincent Roland, and his deputy, Julian Hamilton, arrived to investigate the disappearances. Using Margaret, Blanche, and a stolen Egyptian mask, James was able to frighten and disorient Roland, and then sneak up behind him, where he possessed him. James return to the police station in Roland's body, where he assigned Officer Hamilton the task of retrieving the amulet from Daisy. Hamilton, believing James was Roland, agreed. It is unknown how James (as Roland) was able to justify stealing a necklace from a child. James then returned to the barn where he waited with Michael, Margaret, and James. Hamilton failed at capturing Daisy or the amulet, and instead managed to accidentally poison and kidnap a fellow police officer, Alana Ebanez. The next morning, Anita arrived at the barn, intent on killing James and retrieving the amulet (which she still believed he had). James and Anita began fighting, shooting lighting at each other, an ability they had acquired via time travel. During the fight, several CIA Agents entered the barn. However, they were quickly dispatched by Michael and Blanche. Ben also entered the barn to confront James, but was shot and killed by Margaret. Julian Hamilton knocked Margaret unconscious and escaped at this point, but later returned with Ben's friend Stacy Melville. The two attacked James and Michael. James elbowed Stacy and ran away to retrieve weapons, while Julian and a freed Alana fought off Michael. James returned with a sword and continued to battle Anita. Blanche was accidentally killed during the fight. A resurrected Ben then entered the fray, knocking Anita out and fighting James in a duel. Ben intended to injure Roland enough to force James out of him, rather then killing him, as Roland was essentially an innocent man. As they dueled, Roland gained the upper hand, and was about to kill Ben, when Wade and Daisy entered the barn. Daisy then shot Roland three times with a shotgun, killing him. James was forced out of him and materialized angrily. Looking around for another victim, he was jumped by Wade, who he was unable to possess. Grabbing a wooden stake off the ground, James stabbed Wade to death. Moments later, Anita's amulet, Daisy's amulet, and James' half-built time machine reacted to each other, sending everyone through time to 2070. Back in 2070 Arriving in 2070, James quickly realized that he was home and that everyone else had lost their memories. The group surmised that they had been in a shipwreck or plane crash, or were the victims of an experiment. Lake, a CIA Agent, also traveled through time and did not lose his memory. He attempted to explain who James was to the group, but was killed accidentally before he could convince them. James then ran away, planning on sneaking back into Sirius Temporal Systems and restoring his natural state of matter. Unfortunately, he realized his condition was irreversible. James spent the next few months possessing random people and animals to stay alive. Death He eventually decided to destroy the time machine BEFORE his past self ever went back in time, thus altering the time stream and changing everything. Ben and his friends attempted to stop James, who possessed Ben, and used his form to murder Alana, Sarah, and Michael. Eventually, James was forced out of Ben's body and the two fought again. Ben shot himself, thus rendering his body useless. He kicked James into an open particle accelerator, which killed him permanently. First and Last Meetings * James first met Wade and Anita at some unknown point in the past. He last met Wade when he killed him, and last saw Anita when he orchestrated her death as well. * James first met Ben sometime around 1864. At the time, he was possessing an unknown person. James last saw Ben moments before he died. * James first met Roland in 1992, when he warned him to avoid him (James) in the future. Roland spent his final days possessed by James. Their last meeting as separate entities took place moments before James possessed him. * James first met Michael and Margaret at some point around 2002. Their exact history is unknown, but it appears they "worked" for him from that point until June 24, 2007, when the final time flash occurred. * James first met Julian while possessing Captain Roland, at Valley Lodge Campground. He last saw Julian when Julian and Stacy attacked him (in Roland's form) and Michael. * James first met Alana in Roland's form, when she spoke to him in his office. They last saw each other moments before the final time flash. * James first met Daisy when she killed Roland, who he was possessing, moment's before the time flash. Despite spending a day together at the police station, they never met there, although Daisy seemed aware of and unnerved by Roland/James' presence. Although he didn't meet her, James became aware that Daisy had the Amulet. * James first met Stacy in Roland's form, when Stacy was at the police station. They last saw each other moment's before the final time flash. Trivia * Daisy, Alana, and Stacy all met James in Roland's form. When James appeared in his real form after Roland's death, they had no idea who he was or where he had come from. Stacy knew Roland was possessed, but was not familiar with his real form. Alana was not not aware he was possessed, and did not have an explanation for Roland's strange behavior. Daisy was likely told of Roland's possession by Wade, although this is not confirmed. * James has met all of the main characters, in one form or another. * James is directly responsible for the death of Wade, and indirectly responsible for every other death except Lawnmower Boy. * The "lightning" James is able to shoot from his hands is red, as opposed to the blue "lightning" Anita shoots.